


The Present

by agrajag



Category: The Umbrella Academy (Comics), The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Comic/TV Fusion, Gen, Trans Character, Unplanned Pregnancy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-28
Updated: 2019-03-28
Packaged: 2019-12-26 00:53:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18272489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/agrajag/pseuds/agrajag
Summary: The whole being transported back in time wasn't too jarring. That was what they had been aiming for after all, although it was the first time any of them had attempted something like that. Considering they had a brother who could time travel whenever he pleased, they had at least heard about the side effects. No, it was the landing thousand and thousands of miles from their intended destination that was surprising.A little insight to Klaus's time in Vietnam.





	The Present

**Author's Note:**

> this story is the culmination of a head canon i have based one _one_ panel in the comic
> 
> the story itself though is a fusion of comic and tv show and can be read whether you've read/watched either

The whole being transported back in time wasn't too jarring. That was what they had been aiming for after all, although it was the first time any of them had attempted something like that. Considering they had a brother who could time travel whenever he pleased, they had at least heard about the side effects. No, it was the landing thousand and thousands of miles from their intended destination that was surprising. Suddenly they were in Vietnam, a country where none of them spoke the language, and that was going to make it rather difficult to find their way to Dallas, Texas. Luther decided to do his brooding thing, which fine. Klaus could understand. Diego joined the marines at the first given opportunity and it was through them that he and Klaus learned that not only were they in the wrong country but the wrong year as well. It took about two days before Klaus was sober enough to see spirits, let alone speak to them, but once he reached that point he was able to have an translator on hand at all times. He didn't care if that was technically cheating. He woke up in the tent the marines had given to him and Diego to see a, honestly the most adorable, man standing over his cot.

"You're not really here, are you?" Klaus asked the man. He shook his head as he opened his vest so Klaus could see the gun shot wound to his chest. "Can you speak Vietnamese?" This time a nod. "Awesome. Would you like to hang out with me and translate?"

Sober and partnered up with Dave, as he found out the fallen soldier's name was, Klaus started to weigh his options. The last place he wanted to be was alone in the jungle with only his thoughts (and Luther) to keep him company, so there went options one. He couldn't see himself being a military man, so goodbye options two. So he 'borrowed' a radio so he could keep in contact with Diego and then wandered into the nearest city, asked Dave where he could find the nearest pawn shop, and the rest was history. No, wait. He could do better with the plays on words.

Klaus understood that inflation and conversion and blah blah blah were things, but he hadn't expected 1960's Vietnamese money to make him richer than he had ever been. Not that it took much. He'd been homeless since he had left the academy. But still. As he sat in an alleyway, counting his dong, he suddenly had a moment of selfless clarity. He could buy a shit ton of drugs with his 'earnings' or he could, maybe, do something about saving the world. It was the reason they'd come here in the first place. The fact that getting high would cost him his translator and he didn't feel like being helplessly lost in a foreign country didn't play into it at all.

So Klaus 'made' some more money, rented out some commercial space, and opened a strip club.

Oh, if only good, old Dad could see him now.

It honestly didn't take long for him to make back his investment and start earning a profit. Fast enough that he could have justified taking out some cash to buy the one drug that mattered, but for some reason he decided against the hassle of finding testosterone. By the time he was strong enough to astral project, he had his period for the first time since he was 16. The pain was excruciating, but it was all for the greater good, right? Klaus tried to ignore the pain and projected himself into a young Pogo's dream. He showed him the world's fate were they to not intervene and end the war. He was picking up a Ringo looking Pogo from the Saigon airport two days later.

"You seem pretty calm," Klaus said as he lit up a cigarette. (Listen, he could only quit so many things at once, alright?)

Pogo made his way to the baggage claim as he said, "Honestly, as far fetched as this all must seem to outsiders, to someone who knows Master Reginald, it honestly sounds like something he would do. Everything else, then, just falls into place."

Klaus huffed a laugh.

"Hate to see what he's cooking up now when he's, like, eight if none of this seems weird."

"He's turning 30 this year," Pogo said, eyeing Klaus wearily.

"Oh. Yeah. Right."

Diego had to know some hippie who could score him some weed, Klaus thought as he took a long drag on his regrettably 'not weed.' Just weed and he'd be fine. Cigarette dangling from his lips, Klaus grabbed Pogo's bags and led him to where a taxi was waiting. Judging by Pogo's face as they pulled up to Spooky's, _he_  definitely didn't approve of Klaus's business.

"Is this what I have to look forward to?" he mumbled to himself.

"Sort of," Klaus replied with a shrug. "The academy has more side show acts than the Rock 'n Roll Circus."

Pogo tilted his head in that way that reminded Klaus he had once been an animal. (Then again, he had too, if you wanted to split hairs.)

"What's that?"

"I might be a few years off for that reference. Oops."

Klaus gave Pogo a quick tour of Spooky's before taking him to the back room of the club. Most strip joints would have the back room packed with VIP customers, but there's had all the equipment (and a slowly rotting corpse, what fun) that they would need to build the televator. Pogo looked back in amazement before smiling at him.

"Fantastic work, number one. I think we might pull this off yet."

Klaus didn't correct him.

So Pogo worked on the televator, Diego played soldiers, Luther pretended to be Thoreau, and Klaus ran his business. It didn't take long before the queer community got wind of the eccentric club owner, and Klaus ended up opening an actual back room after all to provide for a new kind of clientele. That's how he met Sinh. Their affair didn't last long, and while Klaus admired him for his bravery because it couldn't be easy as a gay Vietnamese soldier, it was purely physical. Eventually, Sinh had to rejoin his company when they were deployed, but not before leaving Klaus with a little present.

When his period didn't come that first month after Sinh left, he thought nothing of it because, admittedly, he was stupid and had been used to not having one for so long. By the second month, he realized something might be wrong. Spooky's manager, Hiê`n, thankfully was better than any doctor he could have hired (or so everyone in the city claimed) and she checked him out. He breathed a sigh of relief when she started dancing around.

"Well, at least I'm not dying, right?"

"Bạn có thai," she sang out before swooping in and giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"What was that?" 

Klaus turned to see Dave looking uncomfortable and Ben laughing (as if he knew Vietnamese. He was just being a dick).

"She, uh, she said you're pregnant," Dave said, wringing the hem of his uniform shirt in his hands. "Do you want to, uh, know your options?"

"Okay, first off, fuck you Ben." Ben just kept laughing. "And, uh, gimme a minute, Dave. Options?"

"You know -- an abortion?"

"Oh, yeah. You free love babies can't even say 'abortion,'" Klaus muttered. Hiê`n was used to his conversations 'with himself' and waited patiently until he would say something she understood. "Well, I never thought I'd have a baby for a multitude of reasons and yet..."

"Oh, no. Klaus," Ben warned. He knew that mischievous twinkle in Klaus's eyes. "Don't you dare."

"You have to admit it'd make a great story when we get home."

"In no way is that a good reason to have a baby."

"I'm afraid I have to agree with your brother," Dave said.

"I appreciate both of your concern and advice, but I've decided to ignore it."

Ben groaned.

"I think I liked you better when you were on the drugs," he said, but Klaus knew he didn't mean it.

He blew Ben a kiss before turning to Dave.

"I need to ask Hiê`n if she can find the baby a good home when I have to leave."

Dave translated for him and Klaus repeated it verbatim to her. She nodded her head enthusiastically and Klaus gave her a thumbs up. She gave him one of her little laughs that meant she was amused by his crazy antics before rushing around to prepare what he would need for the pregnancy. Ben mimed slapping him across the face but obviously that didn't do much of anything.

"Haven't you always wanted to be an uncle?" Klaus asked.

"I'm pretty sure that would have been Luther."

"Oh shit. Luther and Diego."

"Yeah. _Oh shit_."

"Well, we can't tell them. It has to be a surprise. They'll shit their pants."

"I can't believe I'm related to you."

"Technically you aren't," Klaus said as he tapped his feet together and skipped off. Not like Ben and Dave couldn't easily follow him, but it was the principle of the matter.

So everyone continued about their lives while Klaus started to get rounder, grumpier, and weirder. His feet hurt too much for him to be on the floor as often as he liked to. He depended on Hiê`n to make sure everything was running smoothly. He was craving food that hadn't even been invented yet. Honestly, he would kill for a bowl of Cookie Crisp. And while that sucked, it didn't compare to trying to hide his baby bump. Luther was easy enough to avoid since he rarely left the jungle, but Diego did come in every once in awhile for updates. Klaus ended up getting super imaginative when it came to blocking his stomach. He deserved an award for his ingenuity.In the end, it all paid off though, for their faces when he gathered and brought them to Spooky's once Pogo was done with the televator.

"Klaus... is that your baby?" Luther asked.

"Yeah. Yeah, that's my baby."

"But I thought..."

"You thought what?" Klaus asked as he inputted the time, date, and location so they could finally arrive in Dallas. "I mean, how could I have passed up this opportunity? My kid is going to be older than me. How rad is that?"

His brothers rolled their eyes (dead one included) as he handed his son to Hiê`n. God, he missed his hormones. He couldn't wait to be back in the present.

Whatever 'present' meant anymore.


End file.
